Anxiety Series - Creativity
Anxiety is strongly corelated with creativity. In other words, those who tend to struggle with anxiety are very often highly creative people. By creativity, I mean an impressive, innate ability in the arts – music, singing, poetry, writing, drawing, painting, photography, dance etc. Correlation, obviously, doesn’t mean causation. So, is it that being creative leads us to be more anxious? Perhaps, creativity connects us with our deeper emotions more and we, therefore, are more prone to anxiety. Or, does being anxious mean we are more likely to be creative? Maybe creativity is a necessary escape for anxiety.
There is a third option, however. Neither one leads to the other, but they are both manifestations of a different cause: hemisphere dominance. The brain has two distinct parts; the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere, separated by the corpus collosum down the middle. The left brain is associated with logical, rational, scientific-like activity. The right brain is associated with imagination, emotions and creativity. This is a very simplified version of how the brain actually works, as both sides always have a role to play in any activity and, with damage to one area, other areas can often “compensate” to fill the void. However, this simplification is true enough to be useful.
Often, people are able to find a balance between both the competing sides of the brain: being able to think rationally and logically about situations to manage them most efficiently and effectively, whilst also being able to embrace their creative side through music or art, as well as not suppressing or denying their emotions. However, if we grow and nurture one part of the brain, without doing the same for the other, that side can dominate. Often anxious people will say, “I know there is nothing to worry about but…” or “a part of me knows it will be okay but…” They are referring to their logical side, the voice that has been separated and marginalised within themselves. The emotional, creative side is in control. So, they may be incredibly creative, passionate and feel intense emotion, but they are unable to regulate that emotion through rational and logical thinking. The rational thinking that can mitigate anxiety, such as looking at the bigger picture, looking into the future etc, is too weak a voice.
Those that are left-brain dominant have the opposite problem, their emotions are separated from their self. They are there, yet in the background and often get pushed away due to their confusing nature. This can cause a cold unemotional personality, obsessed with rationalism and logic as the only way to view the world. Whereas right brain dominant people can become “lost” or emersed in a creative experience, left brain dominant people may see a creative task as a skill to be learnt, practiced and mastered.
Think about your activities throughout the day as feeding your either side. How many activities do you do that feed your right hemisphere? How many that feed your left hemisphere? Can you gain a better balance between the two; allowing you to immerse yourself in art whilst also being able to avoid difficulties with anxiety?